Zigeunerzelt » it easy. Feel better. Prett

A running back is like a city bus. If you miss one, just wait five more minutes and another will come along. This rather harsh maxim is something thats been said on many a draft day of the position. It reflects the mindset of a pro football team that there are so many talented players at that spot, it should be relatively easy to find a replacement should one go down with an injury or retire. The Toronto Argonauts are hoping thats the case because Chad Kackert has been forced to step away from his starting job after breaking his lower leg in a non-contact practice just before last years Eastern Final. Replacing a back of his talent will not, despite the adage, be easy. Sporting a lengthy vertical scar on the outside of his left leg, starting just above the top of his shoe, Kackert said he found out a couple of days ago that camp would be a no go. "I expected to come back and be on IR (injured reserve)," said Kackert, "but I understand the circumstance of the league. I dont want a handout, I dont want to come onto a team and just take a paycheque while Im sitting around not helping anybody."Kackert has been named the teams strength and conditioning coach and was in attendance as the Argos opened their full camp at York University on Sunday. "Im going to rehab. I mean I want my leg to get better...who wants to walk around on a gimp leg for the rest of their life?" continued the 27-year-old. "If its sooner rather than later then Ill reevaluate, but as of right now Im going to get my leg better and I going to coach this team as far as strength and conditioning goes." If Kackerts career is over it was certainly an eventful one. He was named the starting running back in 2012 amid a firestorm of controversy when Cory Boyd, the leagues leading rusher at the time, was unceremoniously cut by the club during the bye week. Kackert took over and led the team to the 100th Grey Cup, where he was named the games Most Outstanding Player. Scott Milanovich benefited from Kackerts play, but now the head coach must carry on without him, something that he was prepared for. "I wasnt expecting him to be here (at camp) as a player," said Milanovich. "It was a very serious injury, particularly with his style of play, using his quickness and his speed so we were planning all along, to unfortunately have to replace him." The coach underscored the importance of Kackerts role on the team, not only on the field, but in the locker room, where his intangibles will still be present in his new coaching role. On the field, life goes on. The Argos currently have six other tailbacks in camp. Canadians Anthony Woodson and Brendan Gillanders would be long shots to start. Another Canadian, this years first-round draft pick Anthony Coombs, is "absolutely" a possibility to be the starter, according to the coach. The other three are Americans. Steve Slaton is a former starter with the Houston Texans who was a Heisman Trophy finalist with West Virginia, Jeremiah Johnson is a one-time star at Oregon, while Curtis Steele is back for another year. Steele saw some game action last season when Kackert was injured. His best game was against B.C., when he rushed for 74 yards on 12 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns. Milanovich says that experience will help him in his quest to become the starter, although the competition is wide open. "Curtis has an advantage because hes been here and hes been in the offence," said the coach. "It could be any of those guys at this point." Steele took reps with the first team on Sunday, something he may not have envisioned because he didnt find out about the severity of his teammates injury until the night before camp opened. Like Kackert said about his paycheque, Steele doesnt want anything handed to him. "It just means that you have to come here and work even harder," Steele told TSN.ca. "I thought Kack was going to be back this year, now (the starting spot) is up for grabs. Every day counts, every rep counts, so you just have to come out and give it your all." Its been an interesting calendar year for the University of Memphis product, who got his first taste of the Canadian game, before getting married in April. How much did last years experience help him prepare for this opportunity? "It was huge," said Steele. "I learned so much last year. The plays (this year) are coming to me faster, Im doing less thinking, and thats what I was aiming for for this year. I dont want to think as much so I can just feel comfortable and just make plays and just play." Coombs is the wild card here. A decade ago a Canadian would be a long shot to start at running back, but with two of the leagues best backs, Jon Cornish and Andrew Harris, being Canadian, the adage that a home-grown product wasnt talented enough to play that position has been proven to be a myth. Can the University of Manitoba product continue the trend? He knows he has a lot of work to do. "Things go a lot quicker in the backfield and you have to stay patient. You have to stay calm and focus on your steps and your aiming point and make your read and go. Once I get comfortable with that I think the skys the limit." He quickly added something about the passing game that will make his coaching staff and quarterback smile ear to ear. "We (the backs) are more concerned with the protection because if you cant protect Ricky Ray, you wont be running no routes (laughs) so thats the first thing." With the "Kack Attack" gone, the battle to replace him becomes one of the more interesting subplots to an already fascinating training camp. Sheldon Richardson Jersey . -- Canada played to expectation up until halftime. Harrison Smith Jersey . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. http://www.vikingsauthenticshop.com/Vikings-Chris-Doleman-Draft-Jersey/ .Y. -- In a span of three days, Shabazz Napier and Connecticut knocked out both Philadelphia schools in the NCAA tournament. Fran Tarkenton Jersey . -- Rodney Stuckey scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Detroit Pistons beat the New York Knicks for the first time in eight meetings, 92-86 on Tuesday night. Mike Remmers Jersey . The No. 5 Aztecs held Burton, the Mountain Wests leading scorer, to 11 points, 10 below his average, in beating the Wolf Pack 73-58 on Saturday night.PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- The road to the Masters got off to a bumpy start Sunday for Tiger Woods when he withdrew from the Honda Classic with what he said was a lower back injury. Woods was 5-over par for the final round -- 12 shots behind Rory McIlroy at the time -- when he shook hands with Luke Guthrie on the 13th green and told him he was done. It was the farthest point at PGA National, and the tournament sent a van to collect Woods and his family. Police kept the media from the parking lot. "He just came over and said, I cant go anymore. It was a pleasure playing with you," said Luke Guthrie, paired with Woods the last two days. "I just said, Take it easy. Feel better. Pretty uneventful." But the speculation over his future figures to be a big buzz leading to the Masters next month. Woods said through spokesman Glenn Greenspan it was a lower back problem that had started Sunday morning as he was warming up. He was to defend his title next week in the Cadillac Championship. "Too early to tell," Woods said in a statement about playing next week at Doral. "Ill get treatment every day to try to calm it down. Just dont know yet. Wait until Thursday and see how it feels." Woods already has played a limited schedule this year -- 10 complete rounds. He was to play twice more before the Masters on April 10-13. Woods said the spasms were similar to what he felt last August at The Barclays, where he dropped to his knees after hitting one shot. Woods finished that tournament in a tie for second, one shot behind Adam Scott. It was the second time in two years that Woods has walked off the course in the middle of the final round. He quit after 11 holes at Doral when he was well out of contention -- and then won Bay Hill two weeks later for his first PGA Tour title since his return from the chaos in his personal life. Guthrie said he could tell early on in the round that something was not right with Woods. "He made a couple of uncharacteristic shots -- the first on 3 kind of was the first one," Guthrie said. "I didnt know if he wasnt feeling the greatest, and it kind of seemed like he might have been protecting -- came up and out of it. I didnt think much of it until maybe 11. I noticed he was bending down gingerly. "He didnt mention it to me," Guthrie said. "Obviously, he wasnt playing the ggreatest.dddddddddddd I wasnt playing the greatest. He was battling out there. Its not like he was throwing in the towel. He was still trying." Woods started the final round seven shots out of the lead and was out of the tournament quickly. He muffed a tough chip in the rough on No. 2, and then took double bogey on the easy par-5 third hole with a drive that found the water hazard left of the sixth green. He bogeyed the fourth from behind the green, and then put his tee shot into the water on No. 6 and had to scramble to save bogey. Woods had said earlier this year in Dubai that he spent the majority of his off-season working on his physical strength, at the expense of neglecting his game. He opened the year by missing the 54-hole cut at Torrey Pines (where he is an eight-time winner), and then tying for 41st in the Dubai Desert Classic. The Honda Classic was his first tournament in a month, and he didnt make it to the finish line. "If youre hurting, youre hurting," Guthrie said. "You dont need to risk injuring yourself even more. Hes had his share of problems with injuries. Theres no reason for him to chance it if hes really hurting." This was the fourth time Woods has withdrawn from a tournament since returning from the chaos in his personal life at the end of 2009. He withdrew from The Players Championship in consecutive years, once in the final round because of a bulging disk, and then after nine holes in 2011 with a leg injury. He left in the final round at Doral in 2012 because of tightness in his Achilles tendon. Two years ago at Doral, Woods was driven in a cart to the parking lot, and NBC Sports showed footage of his Mercedes-Benz driving out of the Miami resort toward his home about an hour north in Jupiter. This time, police blocked the media from entering the players parking lot. Woods was seen getting out of a white passenger van with his mother and other members of his group. It was the second time the No. 1 player in the world walked out in the middle of the Honda Classic. A year ago, McIlroy quit after 26 holes because of what he said was a sore wisdom tooth. He later said the frustration of a poor start to the year got the best of him. By withdrawing in the middle of the round, Woods is ineligible to win the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average for having an incomplete round. Woods has won the award a record nine times. 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